Choosing between love
by ginnys01
Summary: Hermione and Fred are dating, her parents do not approve


AN: one shot written for the QLFC week 9

Position prompt: **BEATER 1**: Love of My Life

Lines used:

**Love of my (her) life**

**Don't take it away from me**

**Because you don't know what it (he) means to me**

Additional prompts used:

Prompt 3: (character) Fred Weasley

Prompt 4: (occupation) musician

Prompt 5: (plot point) disowning someone or being disowned

Prompt 15: (object) microphone

Word count: 2991

Muggle AU

* * *

"_Our decision is final, Hermione! You either break up with him or we do not want to see you again." _

The sentence keeps repeating itself inside Hermione's head. When her parents had told her to break up with Fred she had refused. How could they ask this of her? She loves Fred; she thought her parents knew and understood. Apparently, she is wrong. What is she supposed to do now? How can her parents expect her to choose between them and her boyfriend?

A car horn sounding brings Hermione out of her thoughts. She had managed to walk halfway towards the bar where Fred performs on a weekly basis.

"_Hermione?" _

"_Yes?" _

"_Are you free on Saturday? I would like to show you something." _

_Hermione started to nod, while grabbing her diary. "I think so." seeing her diary empty for that day, she continued, "do you want me to meet you here?"_

_Fred shook his head. "I'll meet you in a pub, it will save you coming all the way here. I'll write the address down for you, could you get there for seven?" _

_A quick glance at the address, told Hermione where the pub was. She hadn't been there before, but she knew where it was. One last nod to Fred told him that she would him there. She hadn't missed a week since._

* * *

"five minutes before you're up, Fred!" Fred nods, looking at his phone. Even though he knows that Hermione is busy, he is still disappointed. Hermione hasn't missed a night since the first time he invited her, and tonight was going to be special. Taking a deep breath, Fred picks up his lucky microphone and heads towards the stage.

"_happy birthday!" Fred looked up as the door opened. Fred had to blink twice to make sure he was seeing correctly. It looked like Hermione standing in the doorway, but a cloud of glitter and confetti, blocked the view. Once the small pieces of paper had settled down on the floor, he could see that it was indeed Hermione. She was wearing her typical neutral coloured clothes, but they were now covered in glitter and small pieces of different coloured paper. Combined with the kids party hat that she was wearing and the even more colourful wrapped present, it was a funny sight to see. Fred couldn't help it; he had started laughing. When he finally managed to stop laughing, Hermione had moved and was now sitting on his desk, stopping him from finishing his work._

"_don't you have lessons now?" Fred managed to ask._

_Hermione shook her head. "I never go in on April the 1st. To many people playing pranks. Anyway, I thought you would be happy to see me? I bought you a present."_

"_I am delighted to see you," Fred replied with a wink, "thank God, you brought a present, or I would have had to kick you out."_

"_well if that is the case, I'm going to leave again. You can have your present when you remember how to treat a lady." Hermione had jokingly replied as she started to get up._

_It didn't take Fred long to grab hold of Hermione before she could leave. "I am sorry my lady, let me make it up to you?"_

Fred looks at the microphone, ever since that day he has been using it and it is now his lucky charm. Hermione couldn't have picked a better way to tell him that she approves of him singing.

* * *

"Fred Weasley!" Hermione looks up, a smile makes its way to her face as Fred walks onto the stage. He looks perfect the way he is standing on the stage. His lucky microphone in his hand. Normally Fred would look at her and blow her a kiss, but tonight he doesn't know that she is here. It reminds her of the first time she had watched him perform.

_Hermione wasn't sure why she here. Fred had asked her to meet him here in this small pub. Looking around she couldn't see him sitting anywhere, so she assumed that he was running late. Taking a seat at the bar, she ordered a drink and sat down to wait. She was wondering why Fred would put so much energy in making sure she would be here, and then not show up. It wasn't until she heard: "Fred Weasley!" that she looked up. When Fred had told her he wanted to show her something, she had never guessed that it would be him performing on stage. She knew that he could sing, but never knew that he wanted to perform. Hermione couldn't keep her eyes of Fred the whole night._

* * *

Fred can't help it, his eyes wander around the public, still hoping she will be there. As his eyes start to sweep the bar, he sees the brown hair that he has come to love. The smile on his face widens as his eyes lock with Hermione's. Seeing Hermione here confirms what he knew since the day he first saw her; she is the love of his life.

_Fred had been standing outside the university building talking to some friends, they had a group assignment, and wanted to go to the library. Fred's problem wasn't that they had a group project, but the library. He didn't do libraries; libraries were boring. _

_The discussion had lasted long enough that the next hour had finished and a girl with long brown hair walked past. Fred couldn't keep his eyes of the girl, following her all the way to the library. "You know guys, I'm happy to go to the library." Before his friends could reply, Fred was already walking towards the library. _

_Upon entering the library, Fred immediately spotted the brown-haired girl, and found a table near, so that he could watch her. Two hours later when the group decided to call it a day, Fred had no clue what had been said. Unlike everyone else in the group, Fred didn't leave but decided to stay, getting weird looks from his group. It wasn't until the girl had packed away and left that Fred packed up and left. From that day on, he spent every free hour in between lectures in the library. He knew all the practice pretending to study would come in use some day. _

* * *

Hermione feels her worries disappear as she locks eyes with Fred. Her mind going back to the first time they met.

_Hermione was sitting in the library at her usual table, studying for the upcoming exams, when a boy with flaming red hair had walked up to her. _

"_Is this seat taken?" Hermione looked up; it was a boy that she had seen in the library before. _

_Looking around the library she noticed that the library was nearly full and empty seats were limited. She shook her head as she started to move her books away from the space in front of the empty seat. She couldn't take up a full table if others needed the space. "It isn't. sorry, I tend to spread my stuff around while studying." As the red head sat down, she added, "I'll probably start spreading again in a minute, if my stuff gets in your way, let me know and I'll move it. She was never asked to move her books once, but she could feel his eyes every so often._

* * *

"great performance!" Fred nods a thank you, the guy from the bar says that after every performance. Usually Fred would stay and chat a bit, but tonight he wants to leave and talk to Hermione. He has organised a great date and can't wait for it to start. quickly hurrying to his changing room, Fred changes into his trousers that he wears if he needs to dress decently and puts on one of the T-shirts that he bought with Hermione. He is sure it takes him twice as long to get ready than usual, but that is probably the nerves. The ring that he got for Hermione sits on his dresser constantly reminding him of his plans for tonight. Taking a deep breath, he grabs the box, puts it in his pocket and turns around to go and find Hermione. Two and a half years ago, when he found the courage to talk to Hermione, he had never thought it would lead to him proposing to her.

_Upon entering the library Fred noticed that his usual table was taken and there was no table available nearby. Fred wasn't sure what to do, leave? Or go and sit with the girl? Ever since he had seen the girl for the first time, he had been coming to the library more and more. His friends had even started joking about how much time he spent here. In the end he decided that he may as well go and talk to the girl, if he didn't now, when would he? _

* * *

Hermione makes her way backstage, she's been here enough that she knows her way around, and that the employees recognise her. It doesn't take her long to find Fred's room. A quick knock on the door followed by "come in!" has Hermione standing in the room. Fred is on the phone, so Hermione takes her usual seat.

"Yes, I know the meeting is tomorrow.

"No, I never agreed to discussing things tonight.

"George, I love you, but at this point you are interfering with my date, with a beautiful girl." Fred smiles towards Hermione, and Hermione can't help but go back to when Fred first asked her on a date.

_It wasn't until Hermione looked at her watch that she realised she was running late. "Sugar!"_

"_Sugar?" Hermione had totally forgotten she had been sharing a table with someone. She had been sharing the table for two weeks now but had yet to actually speak to him._

_Hermione nodded. "yes, you know swearing without actually swearing?"_

"_okay?" The boy replied, looking both unsure and amused at the same time. "So, why are you swearing?"_

"_I'm running late for my last exam; it starts in 30 minutes." She replied absentmindedly, her focus being on trying to pack everything up in 5 minutes instead of her usual 30 minutes._

"_why don't you leave your stuff here?" Hermione looked up, why would a boy she hardly- scratch that, didn't know offer to look after her stuff. The red-headed boy must have seen the doubt in her eyes. "you are running late, I'm not planning on going anywhere and if you take your books you wont have anywhere to sit when you get back."_

_Hermione looked at her watch, trust a stranger with her books or risk being late for her exam? She didn't really have an option._

"_thank you!" I should be back in about 2 hours."_

_When Hermione re-entered the library two hours later, The boy was still there like he promised but it seemed like he was having an argument on his phone._

"_Yes, I'll be back soon._

"_No, I didn't forget._

"_I'm helping a girl out, she should be back any minute now."_

_As Hermione arrived at the table the boy looked up and gave her a smile._

"_She's back, give my 45 minutes to pack up and get to the shop."_

_Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Got to go?"_

"_Yes, that was my brother, we were supposed to have a meeting, but I forgot."_

"_I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let you look after my stuff. You could have made your meeting if it wasn't for me." She felt bad, she shouldn't have accepted her offer, it wasn't his fault that she had lost track of time._

"_Don't worry, I offered, and I would do it again."_

_Relief was visible on Hermione's face. "thank you, but I still feel bad for keeping you. Is there any way I can make it up to you?"_

"_there might be one way," Hermione was starting to regret this, usually a person would say, 'it's fine, no worries', "you could let me buy you a drink sometime? Tomorrow night?"_

_Once again Hermione was relieved. She could do drinks. "shouldn't I be buying?"_

_The only reply she got was: "I'll meet you in front of the library tomorrow at 8!"_

_Hermione looked at the boy who had just left in a rush, did she really agree to go on a date with someone who she didn't even know the name of?_

* * *

After Fred hangs up on his brother, he turns towards Hermione. "Ready to go, beautiful?" Hermione nods, grabbing her bag. Within minutes they are on the busy London roads heading towards the restaurant that Fred picked for tonight. Fred can't help but fidget, but luckily Hermione doesn't seem to notice that he is about as nervous as he was for their first date.

_Fred arrived at the library 15 minutes early. He didn't want to be late for there first date. He was happy to see that Hermione hadn't arrived yet. What if she didn't show up? It wasn't as if they knew anything about each other. The only reason he knew her name, was because he had seen it on her books the day before in the library when she had gone to the exam. He should have told her his name at least. Maybe even swapped numbers. As Fred stood pacing outside the library, he didn't see Hermione arriving until she said, "Hey."_

_Fred looked up, "Hey to you to. You ready to go? There is a small pub near here, that seems to get missed by the students." Hermione nodded._

_The two started walking awkwardly in the direction that Fred had pointed, "My name is Fred by the way, I'm not sure if I mentioned it yet."_

"_You hadn't. Mine is Hermione. Weird how you can share a table with someone and not know their name isn't it?" This time it was Fred's turn to nod his head. After that the conversation flowed. When they arrived the two sat down at a small table in a corner out of the way._

"_So why did you decide to study business?" Hermione asked._

"_Well, I've told you about my brothers, well George and I own a joke shop, at the moment it's just one shop here in London, but we would like to expand. We've started looking, but people aren't taking us seriously as neither of us had a degree past GCSE's. So to be able to expand one of us had to do a business degree. We did a coin toss. I lost."_

"_You are doing a three-year degree because you lost a coin toss!" Hermione exclaimed. "That is the weirdest reason ever to do a degree."_

_Fred just shrugged. "So why are you studying law?"_

_When Fred ended up paying for a full meal instead of just drinks, he thought it had been a very good night. The only disagreement being over who paid the bill. But Fred ended up winning that argument, the fact that he won it with her agreeing to pay for the next date, was a bonus. He couldn't wait for their second date._

* * *

When they arrive at the restaurant, it is fancier than Hermione had imagined. The whole walk here her mind had been on the conversation she had last night with her parents, but she is determined to put her worries aside to enjoy the night. She doesn't want to follow her parents' orders, but at the moment she can't see how not to. If she doesn't, she would be homeless. Why do her parents need to force her to choose between them and him?

"_Hermione, your mum and I talked, and we have decided that that boy of yours isn't good enough. We had thought that he would be okay as he studied business, but we never liked the fact that it is a joke shop. We feel like he is not serious in life. After meeting him, we decided to trust your judgement, but we have now discovered that he sings in one of the pubs on a weekly basis. A businessman should not have the time to spent on silly things like pretending to be a musician. It shows that we were wrong in thinking that he was an actual businessman. He obviously doesn't know what he wants in his life. We do not want you marrying someone like that, therefore we think it is best if you break up with him now."_

_To say Hermione was shocked was an understatement. How could her parents say something like that? Hermione was, in fact, speechless._

_Apparently, Hermione's parents took that as an agreement as they continued. "Good, we are happy that you agree. We shall expect you to break up with him tonight when you see him."_

"_but- but you can't mean that? I love him, just as I love you? How would you feel if someone told you that you weren't aloud to see me anymore, or if Fred told me that I wasn't aloud to see you anymore? That isn't a decision for you to make. If I ever feel like Fred isn't the one for me, I will break up with him, but it will have to be my decision. Don't take it away from me. Why can't you except him?"_

"_And why should we change our minds?"_

"_Because you don't know what he means to me. Please don't ask me to break up with him."_

_Once again Hermione's parents looked at each other._

"_We think you may have misunderstood; we aren't asking you to break up with him. We are ordering you to break up with him. We do not want him coming into this family and grabbing all our hard-earned money so he can throw it away figuring out what he wants."_

"_but…"_

"_our decision is final, Hermione! You either break up with him or we do not want to see you again."_


End file.
